Asleep at the Wheel, the Grammy-awarding winning band revered for sustaining Texas-based Western Swing, returns to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The “Wheel” is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2010, and with the new tour, is showcasing the music of “It’s A Good Day,” just released on July 20, 2010.

Since the early ‘70s, the Wheel has been the most important force in Western swing – a mix of big band, country and dance music popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Formed out of reverence for Wills’ freewheeling, eclectic sensibility, Asleep at the Wheel and founder Ray Benson are said to have boldly defied the fickle lures of mainstream – and thrived – by keeping the distinctly American art form of Western Swing alive and kicking.